As far as the record books are concerned, 2015 will go down as the year of Lewis Hamilton as the Brit successfully retained his drivers' title to land his third in total.

But while Mercedes and Hamilton performed a clean sweep of all before them, it's not all been about the duo's dominance as Sportsmail looks at the highs and lows of the 2015 campaign.

BEST DRIVER: Lewis Hamilton

Now a triple world champion and the first Brit to successfully defend his crown, Hamilton is the undisputed man to beat in Formula One.

Having overcome his achilles heel of qualifying against Nico Rosberg in 2015, the Brit has simply run rings around his Mercedes team-mate.

The 30-year-old may have ended the season with his foot off the gas but you can be sure he will be back to his best for 2016. In what looks likely to be another year at the front for Mercedes, it’s hard not to see the Brit dominating once again.

RUNNER-UP: Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton was the undoubted star of 2015, winning the drivers' title by a huge margin of 59 points

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BEST TEAM: Mercedes

After setting the bar so high in 2014, the pressure was on Mercedes to perform once again with a new threat of Ferrari star Vettel.

But they passed that test in flying colours with Hamilton and Rosberg dominating yet again, while the Silver Arrows broke the points record after sealing a one-two in Abu Dhabi. They collected 86 per cent of the possible points up for grabs all season.

RUNNER-UP: Ferrari

Along with Nico Rosberg, Hamilton (right) was part of a Mercedes team which won the constructors' title

BEST RACE: United States

While it’s not been a vintage year for on-track action, it’s only the charm of Formula One to throw up a classic when you least expect it.

This year’s race at the Circuit of the Americas proved to be the relic in 2015 as the horrendous weather which disrupted practice and qualifying laid down foundations for a thrilling grand prix.

Despite controlling most of the race, Rosberg was dramatically passed late on by Hamilton who by finishing in front of his team-mate and Vettel clinched the 2015 title in stunning fashion.

RUNNER-UP: Hungary

Hamilton took advantage of a Rosberg error in the United States to claim victory and the 2015 title

JONATHAN MCEVOY ON HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2015 FORMULA ONE SEASON

Hit or Miss? A one-man, half-a-team show for too long. With Ferrari too far back to challenge the Mercedes super-cars, it needed Nico Rosberg to take the fight to Lewis Hamilton, but the watching world was snoring by the time he found his feet. Next year, more competition, please.

Driver of the Year Hamilton. He faded away after winning the title, but he delivered par excellence when it mattered most.

Best of the Rest Sebastian Vettel. Revitalised at Ferrari.

Most Wanted Driver Max Verstappen. Only 18 yet a hearty overtaker.

Most Improved Sergio Perez. Splendid second half of the season.

Bang for Your Buck Team Force India. On half Red Bull’s budget, they finished only one place behind them in the constructors’ table. Credit goes to the leadership of Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley.

Race of the Year It rained solidly for days in Austin. Qualifying was delayed until Sunday. Finally, the action started. The pivotal moment was Rosberg skewing off the track late on. Hamilton was through. Still it was not certain he had done enough to take the title. Could Vettel pass Rosberg and delay the party? No, just. Hamilton was champion for the third time.

Cock-up of the Year Mercedes’s decision to pit Hamilton for a superfluous tyre change in Monaco. It lost him the race and them face.

Scandal of the Year Pat Symonds (Crashgate mastermind) is back in a senior position at Williams. So was Mike Coughlan (Spygate collaborator). And returning to the paddock next year as Manor’s racing director is Dave Ryan, who left McLaren in 2008 after prompting Hamilton to fabricate evidence in front of the stewards (Liegate). Who says F1 is full of knaves and cheats?

Mystery of the Year What precisely was Hamilton doing in his car at 3.30am, other than crashing it? Formerly abstemious, he now claims to be hitting the bottle hard. It all sounds a bit 16-year-old-ish to me. He blamed his accident on being tired from over-partying. The Monaco police said he was not full of alcohol. So he can’t have been then.

Flop of the Year Honda over-promised and under-delivered. Is the clock ticking for the man most responsible for the mess, Yasuhisa Arai?

Quote of the Year Shame at FIFA? ‘I don’t think Blatter should ever step down,’ Bernie Ecclestone expostulated. ‘If these people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it’s good. It’s a tax football had to pay.’ Ecclestone, 85, makes the, er, moral case for Blatter, 79.

Lest we forget The agonising news we had all expected came in July: Jules Bianchi had died at 25 from the head injuries he suffered at the Japanese Grand Prix nine months earlier. Some people who hardly knew him made an exhibition of parading their grief. My heart instead bled for the Bianchis, who said: ‘The pain we feel is immense and indescribable.’

The 2015 season sadly saw the passing of Jules Bianchi after injuries sustained in the 2014 Japanese GP

MOST DRAMATIC MOMENT: Lewis Hamilton winning title at US Grand Prix

Luck has not been on Rosberg's side this season, but it seemed like the German was finally up for the fight when he fought back from a poor start in Austin to lead Hamilton. In doing so, he would have kept the Brit waiting for his third world title.

But then, just as this hectic grand prix started to settle down, a lapse in concentration (or as Nico says, a gust of wind) forced him wide off the track and that left the door well and truly open for his team-mate to romp home to victory. Rosberg's face said it all afterwards, as did his petulant throw of the hat at Lewis.

RUNNER-UP: Man on the track in Singapore

Hamilton celebrated securing the championship in Texas with three races of the season still to go

WORST DRIVER: Pastor Maldonado

Sadly for Pastor Maldonado his Formula One career is going to be remembered more for his outrageous crashes, collisions and penalties rather than his stunning highlight of winning in a terrible Williams car back in 2012.

But while that sensational shock win in Spain proves he has talent it’s not seen often enough, and the fact there is a website called hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com says all you need to know about his reputation.

Beaten comfortably by team-mate Romain Grosjean this term, but will retain his place in the team for 2016. Watch your mirrors everyone…

RUNNER-UP: Kimi Raikkonen

Pastor Maldonado (right) has had another error strewn year and crashed out on the first lap in the last race at Abu Dhabi after colliding with McLaren's Fernando Alonso

WORST TEAM: McLaren

Twelve retirements, just five finishes in the points, while only backrunners Marussia lie below them in the standings. It has been an awful year for McLaren with new partners Honda (more on them below).

Former world champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have been almost helpless to stop the slide which has been apparent since the start of the season. McLaren must improve next season, it's as simple as that.

RUNNER-UP: Red Bull

Talents like Alonso (left) and team-mate Jenson Button have been wasted this season in a poor McLaren car

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Honda power units

McLaren had arguably the best driver line-up on the grid with Alonso and Button. Sadly their talents were wasted at the back of the field thanks to awful Honda power units in the back of the MP4-30.

Not only was it a disappointment to see such talented drivers nowhere near where they should be on the grid but it also showed just how far Honda are off the pace of front runners Mercedes and Ferrari.

In an era when the sport is desperate for competition at the top, Honda’s abysmal return to F1 was often painful to watch. And don't get us started on the ludicrous grid penalties.

RUNNER-UP: Cancellation of the German Grand Prix (will it ever return to the Nurburgring?)

McLaren's problems have stemmed from a terrible Honda engine following their return to the sport

TANTRUM OF THE YEAR: Nico Rosberg in Austin

Hamilton quite simply sent his team-mate into meltdown in Austin. He shunted Rosberg at the start before capitalising on an inexplicable error to win his second successive world title, and after the race, Rosberg let his feelings known.

He ignored a handshake and refused to join in the customary champagne spraying, and petulantly threw a cap at Lewis in the green room.

RUNNER-UP: Sebastian Vettel after Belgian Grand Prix

Having lost out on the 2015 world title, Nico Rosberg threw his cap at Hamilton in a post-race tantrum

BEST ROOKIE: Max Verstappen

You will be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t rate Max Verstappen rookie of the year – the Toro Rosso driver has been nothing short of sensational.

With confidence oozing out of every pore, a willingness to overtake whenever possible, the son of former Formula One driver Jos has been a big highlight of 2015.

It says much about his talent that having comfortably beaten team-mate Carlos Sainz, the latter’s reputation remains very much in tact – if not enhanced after his own rookie year.

A world championship or two surely beckons for the Dutchman.

RUNNER-UP: Felipe Nasr

At just 18-years-old, Max Verstappen's maiden season in the Toro Rosso has taken the F1 grid by storm

BEST QUOTE/RADIO MESSAGE: Fernando Alonso at the Japanese Grand Prix

Honda's home race in Suzuka was always going to be tricky, with the fanfare surrounding McLaren not quite reflecting their position at the back of the grid. It was all too much for Alonso at one stage, with the two-time world champion constantly struggling for pace on the straights.

'It feels like GP2,' the Spaniard said, referencing Formula One's feeder series. 'Embarrassing. Very embarrassing.' And the best was yet to come for Alonso, with the world listening in.

He later yelled: 'GP2 ENGINE. GP2 ENGINE. AGHHH!'

RUNNER-UP: Lewis Hamilton in Monaco

Fernando Alonso used Honda's home race at the Japanese Grand Prix to publicly humiliate their engine

WORST RACE: China

Having come off the back of a race where Ferrari beat Mercedes fair and square in Malaysia, the return of a dominating Mercedes one-two put the writing on the wall for the rest of the year.

As it was, Hamilton easily won in front of Rosberg whose bizarre radio rant to accuse his Mercedes team-mate of going too slow during a stint in the race also summed up much of what is wrong with modern day Formula One in that cars can’t follow closely and drivers appear to be micro-managed.

RUNNER-UP: Japan

Hamilton celebrates victory in China in front of Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel - a familiar sight throughout 2015

BEST OVERTAKE: Max Verstappen on Felipe Nasr in Belgium

Spa always provides us with a few high-speed overtakes and it was no different when young Max, who is developing quite the reputation for sublime passing manoeuvres, took to the track this year.

Verstappen held his line round the outside of Blanchimont at around 200mph, before ducking up the inside through the smallest of gaps. It was brave, incredibly skilfully and well, a little bid mad. Just what we like to see.

RUNNER-UP: Valtteri Bottas on Felipe Massa in Malaysia

Max Verstappen tackles Eau Rouge at Spa on a track where the Dutchman would perform a stunning overtake over Felipe Nasr during the Belgian Grand Prix

MOST IMPROVED DRIVER: Sebastian Vettel

After being trounced by Daniel Ricciardo in his final year at Red Bull, Vettel had a point to prove at Ferrari to show it was his talent and not just a sensational Adrian Newey car winning four consecutive world titles.

And the German silenced his critics in the only realistic manner he could. Vettel constantly had the better of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and as the only driver to pip Mercedes to a race win all year long (three times no less) his place as one of F1’s top dogs looks secure once again.

RUNNER-UP: Daniil Kvyat

Sebastian Vettel gives the thumbs up after finishing fourth in Abu Dhabi. The four-time world champion has enjoyed a strong campaign for Ferrari after a catastrophic final year at Red Bull in 2014

MOST IMPROVED TEAM: Toro Rosso

Perhaps it's the improvements to the car, perhaps it's the incredibly talented young duo in Verstappen and Sainz they have recruited. Whatever it is, Toro Rosso have been superb in 2015.

They've amassed their record amount of points with 67, helped by Verstappen claiming an impressive fourth in Hungary and the USA. The fine work on their chassis has seen them often overtake the Ferraris, and even big brother Red Bull this season.

RUNNER-UP: Force India

With two young rookies in Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso have punched above their wight in 2015

BEST START: Lewis Hamilton (Japan)

At this point of the season, Rosberg still had a shout of winning the world title but the way Hamilton bullied him into the second corner at Suzuka showed who really was top dog at Mercedes.

It was a line Rosberg, who started on pole and led into the first corner, should have covered but he was easily pushed to the outside by the Brit who would go on and win the race in a typically comfortable fashion.

RUNNER-UP: Felipe Massa (Great Britain)

Hamilton (front left) performed a sensation pass on Rosberg at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix